Kazakhstan President Urges Putin to Freeze Ukraine War

During the Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum in Omsk, Russia, on July 25, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev urged President Vladimir Putin to freeze the war in Ukraine. Tokayev proposed resuming negotiations based on a revised version of the 2022 Istanbul agreements, which he termed the Istanbul Formula 2.0, suggesting the conflict be frozen along current front lines under the guarantee of major powers.

Tokayev stated that he had received signals from Europe and the United States regarding the conflict and argued that the continued loss of young lives from both nations benefits their shared adversaries. President Putin responded by stating he would brief Tokayev on the situation and keep him informed of developments on the Ukrainian front.

Reactions to the proposal were divided. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed openness to a ceasefire to avoid prolonged fighting and further casualties ahead of a scheduled meeting with Donald Trump. However, Daria Zarivna, an adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine, dismissed the revised Istanbul proposal as Russian disinformation. United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that Russian proposals from a previous Anchorage Summit were unacceptable to Ukraine.

The diplomatic push occurred alongside economic tensions, as Kazakhstan implemented border controls to stop the illicit export of cheap gasoline to Russia amid a Russian domestic fuel crisis.